Ben and Jerry’s Hiring Success Story

Ben and Jerry’s Hiring Success Story

Meet Mac Maki (15-year franchise owner), this is his Ben and Jerry’s hiring success story. Like most franchise owner’s Mac handles the entire hiring process for his shop. Mac and I worked on an interview template that would identify top candidates that reflect Ben and Jerry’s core values. Mac was a little unsure about this new method of recruitment and interviewing but, was definitely intrigued. The main goals that we were looking to accomplish were:

Increase conversions with applicants while making it easy to apply through a text-message entry point

Identify top candidates that reflect Ben and Jerry’s core values in a text interview

Save time and money

We hung a poster by the front door of his shop with the Interview Now phone number. After a two week period, Mac was able to staff his location for the entire summer. Because of his success, he was more than happy to agree to a testimonial video. Check it out below!

Let’s take a look at the goals I set for Mac and try to unpack more about what his hiring challenges were.

Increase conversions with applicants while making it easy to apply through a text-message entry point

Everybody uses their phone nowadays and it’s safe to say the number 1 communication method is through text messaging. It’s very easy. For passive candidates and business owners, there is no barrier. Mac doesn’t need to stop serving customers to provide you with an application and you don’t need to leave your friends or family to ask for a job application. Not only is sending a text easy for job seekers but, we capture their contact information. Unlike a web URL, Interview Now captures the candidate’s phone number and we can now effectively send drip messages encouraging them to convert. This cannot be done on a website and if you compare recruiting to sales (you really should) you would absolutely want every lead’s information.

Identify top candidates that reflect Ben and Jerry’s core values in a text interview

Since we launched Interview Now it’s very interesting to see the data that comes through from interviews. People think texting is unprofessional but, the reality is it’s the opposite. Since candidates believe they are speaking to someone and it’s in a comfortable method of communicating, longer and more authentic responses come through. Yes, you will still receive candidates that reply back with one to two-word responses but, you also receive candidates that interview over an hour. For Mac, he was able to find candidates that aligned specifically with Ben and Jerry’s core values within the first few days utilizing Interview Now.

Save time and money

One of the biggest things we preach about our product is the time savings. We save time for candidates and business owners but, it isn’t just the interview. It sounds weird but, I like to pitch a “24/7 recruiting tool” or “24/7 recruiter for your business”. Help Wanted signs are proven methods to bring interested people in but, what if you’re closed? Not only was Mac able to review detailed interviews at his leisure but, he also captured more candidates than he would have without Interview Now. Lastly, did we save Mac money outside of his “time”? Yes, we did. A Craiglist post in San Francisco runs $75. He was able to recruit and interview evangelists of Ben and Jerry’s for less than half of 1 Craiglist post.

Different businesses have segmented challenges to hiring. For Mac, receiving candidates is not one of them. Identifying top candidates that match Ben and Jerry’s core values is 100% what he was looking for.